
Class 

Book Sjj 1 

Copyright 1^^' 



Christian Doctrine 



By 

Professor W. Brenton Greene, Jr., D. D. 



PHILADELPHIA 

THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 
1905 



5 wo Oopies rieueitfeti 

OCT f 
/ Jil y / 7 

copy B. 



Copyright, 1905, by 
The Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publication 
AND Sabbath-School Work 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Bible 9 

II The Nature of God 14 

III God's Work of Creation and Providence ... 18 

IV The Nature and Original State of ]\Ian . . ..22 
V Sin 26 

VI Redemption ......... 31 

VII The Christian Life 40 

VIII The Means of Grace 46 

IX The Last Things 52 



PREFACE 



This little volume has been prepared primarily for the use of 
students in The Westminster Teacher-Training Course who may 
wish to pursue further their study of Christian doctrine. The les- 
sons in the manual are necessarily brief outlines only. In these 
pages the author has expanded and developed the several subjects. 
Then, others, also, besides teacher-training students, will find here 
an exposition of the great doctrines of the Christian religion. 



INTRODUCTION 



A. A Presentation of Christian Doctrine presupposes:— 

a. That God exists. 

b. That God has revealed Himself. 

c. That the Bible is God's authoritative and complete revelation to 
man in the life that now is. 

These are the subjects which constitute the science of Christian 
Apologetics, An excellent treatise on this science is "The Grounds 
of Theistic and Christian Belief," by Prof. Geo. P. Fisher, D. D., 
LL. D. 

B. It should be remembered:— 

a. That the proof of a Christian doctrine is the evidence that is 
expressed or implied in the teaching of the Bible. 

h. That the proof-texts given in these lessons are simply speci- 
mens of a far larger number that might be adduced. 

c. That no doctrine rests on detached texts simply, but on these 
as illustrating the general trend of the Bible. 

C. It is recommended: — 

a. That the proof-texts be memorized. 

b. That the indicated sections of the Confession of Faith be care- 
fully studied. 

c. That the lectures in "Popular Lectures on Theological Themes" 
be read. 

W. B. G. 



CHAPTER I 



THE BIBLE « 

A. Tlie Bible is a Word of Man. A glance at it shows this. 

a. Each one of its sixty-six books was written by a man (Rom. 
I: 1-7). 

b. Each one of these authors wrote from human impulses, with 
earthly conditions for his occasions, with definite designs of his 
own (Luke 1 : 1-4). 

c. They had each a style of his own, and they wrote each in his 
own style. Compare Paul's epistles with John's. 

d. What they wrote was affected by their mental state and by their 
surroundings. Thus no one of the evangelists told or knew all 
concerning Christ (John XXI 125). 

e. Hence, the Bible is not omniscient. It does not touch on every 
subject; it does not tell all on any subject. It is so truly the free 
expression of men that it is marked by all the limitations character- 
istic of man, error only excepted. 

B. The Bible is Unique. As its name signifies, it is "The 
Book." 

a. No other, not even the sacred books of the other great relig- 
ions, approaches it as regards circulation. Over eight million new 
copies are being issued yearly. 

b. No other has been studied and is being studied so carefully and 
so generally. More than two hundred thousand volumes are said 
to have been written simply to expound it. 

c. No other has achieved such results or has been accorded such 
a place. The Hon. W. H. Seward wrote: "The whole hope of 
human progress is suspended on the ever growing influence of the 
Bible." 

C. Tbe Bible is The Word o£ God. This is its own claim, 
the explanation which it gives of its uniqueness. It is "The Book," 

*See "Confession of Faith," Chapter I; also "Popular Lectures on Theolog- 
ical Themes," Lecture IV. 

9 



10 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



because its human authors "spake from God, being moved by the 
Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1: 21). God's part in the preparation of 
this Book of books falls under several heads : — 

a. Providence. God so places and conditions every man as to 
secure his becoming what His plan for him calls for. Because He 
intended that Christianity should demand, and so knew that it 
would demand, doctrinal statement, He gave Paul a logical mind 
and then caused him to be brought up "at the feet of Gamaliel." 
In this natural way God so prepared the writers of the Bible that, 
as regards the things of this world, they would of themselves write 
what He wished and as He wished and when He wished. 

b. Spiritual illumination. Notwithstanding providential control, 
man cannot of himself receive "the things of the Spirit of God" 
(I Cor. 11:14). Though put where he could best see them and 
given the faculties with which to discern them, his power for such 
discernment has been destroyed by sin. Hence, in the case of the 
writers of the Bible, as in that of all God's children, He supernatu- 
rally opens and clarifies their organ of spiritual vision (Eph. I: 18). 
Thus Paul, who thought that he "ought to do many things contrary 
to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts XXVI 19), came to 
recognize Him as his Lord and Saviour (Acts IX: 6). 

c. Revelation. Even the spiritually illuminated man could not by 
himself discover the deep things of God (Rom. XI : 33, 34). His 
own organ of spiritual vision is not strong enough ; and if it were, 
God's purpose of grace, because purely optional, could be known 
only as He should Himself declare it. Hence, by visions, dreams, 
direct mental suggestion, verbal dictation, "in divers manners, God 
spoke unto the fathers in the prophets" (Heb. I:i). This super- 
natural revelation, of course, was furnished to the writers of the 
Bible only when providential preparation and spiritual illumination 
were inadequate. The Scriptures, therefore, contain revelations; 
they are not made up solely of revelations (Luke I: 1-4). 

d. Inspiration. All men are fallible. Consequently, in receiving 
and recording a revelation they would be liable to err. They would 
be almost as much so in stating their own observation or experience. 
Hence, a special influence from the Holy Spirit of God was granted 
to the sacred writers to enable them accurately to conceive and to 
express what God would have them say. Of this inspiration we 
may affirm : — 



THE BIBLE 



II 



(1) It was in no sense mechanical. It did not dictate words; it 
efifectively guided the selection of words. It did not impair the 
writer's spontaneity; it was exerted through and in accordance with 
his spontaneity. It must have been somewhat like the touch of the 
driver on the reins which guide the racing steeds. The naturalness 
of the style of the Bible indicates as much as this. 

(2) It was constant. Only parts of the Bible were revealed, but 
every part, without distinction, is inspired (II Tim. Ill: 16). 

(3) This is true even of the words. Though, except when other- 
wise stated, the free utterance of men, they are God's words ; for 
they are those to which He guided the choice of the writer as the 
expression of His will for us (I Cor. II: 13). It was of the use 
of a particular word, that Christ said that "the scripture cannot 
be broken" (John X:35). 

(4) It is the original Scriptures in the original languages that are 
so inspired. These have been preserved to us, however, through the 
care of the copyists and the labors of scholars in remarkable purity; 
and have been brought within the reach of all by faithful translations. 
Hence, he who reads our current English Bible reads in it, with 
competent exactness, the mind of the Spirit as it was recorded in 
the inspired Word for our admonition. 

D. Tlie Bible's Own Claim to be "The Word of God" must 
be True. 

a. What it has done and what it is, when considered in connection 
with its claim, prove this. If the Bible were not, as it asserts, "the 
word of God," it would be on its face either a lie or a mistake. 
Could a lie or a mistake, however, have exerted the uniquely benefi- 
cent moral influence which the Bible has exerted? Again, though 
written by forty different authors through sixteen centuries, the 
Bible is so clearly one book that God must have suggested at least 
its ruling ideas. Can we, however, think of God as doing this in 
the case of a book which would be on its face a lie or a mistake, if 
it were not, as it asserts, even as to its words, God's Word? 

b. The direct work of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of Christians 
is for them an additional kind and the decisive kind of evidence. 
The Holy Spirit puts the teachings of the Bible to the test of ex- 
perience in the hearts of Christians, and this experience both demon- 
strates the truth and witnesses to the supernatural origin of these 



12 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



teachings (John XVI: 13, 14). Then we infer that the book which 
contains them is, as it says, "the word of God." 

c. Hence, the comparatively fezv seeming mistakes in the Bible 
ought not to disturb us. On the one hand, not one of them can be 
proved to be a mistake; on the other hand, the evidence that the 
Bible is "the word of God" makes it irrational not to hold them in 
suspense until we know more of them. Even a man with a name 
for honesty ought not to be admitted to be dishonest because his 
statements show a few discrepancies that we can not explain, 

E. The Doctrine tliat the Bible is "the Word of God" 
means :— • 

a. Its authority rests directly upon God (I Thess. II: 13). We do 
not obey it because it is reasonable ; we believe it to be reasonable 
ultimately because it is "the word" of Him who is the source of 
all reason. W e do not receive it on the authority of the church ; 
we hold that the church has no authority save as founded upon it. 
We do not accept it on the ground that our feelings approve it; we 
approve only such of our feelings as it endorses (II Tim. Ill: 16). 

b. The Bible is infallible throughout. In all its words, God's 
word, it can make no mistake (John X:3S). Hence, though it 
leaves much unsaid, all that it says is true in the sense in which if 
says it. What it states as history is real history. Its descriptions of 
the processes of nature, though not scientific in design or effect, are, 
as popular statements always aim to be and as scientific statements 
could seldom be, true to what appears. When the mistakes of men 
or the lies of Satan are given, it is an infallible record of mistakes 
or of lies that we have. 

c. As the rule of faith and practice the Bible is complete. In these 
respects it tells us all that we need to know and all that we may 
regard as authoritative (Gal. 1:8, 9). 

d. As the rule of faith and practice it is also perspicuous. Though 
there is much in the Bible too deep for human understanding, its 
presentation of "the way of life" is so plain that "he who runs may 
read." Hence, the Scriptures are addressed to all men and ought to 
be searched and judged by all men (Ps. CXIX : 105, 130). 

e. The Bible differs from every other book, therefore, in its pur- 
pose as zvcll as in its nature. God gives it to us that we may live in 
Him. The Bible presents the way of life. Its purpose is to make 
us "wise unto salvation" (II Tim. Ill: 15). 



THE BIBLE 



13 



Note. — For particulars concerning the composition, contents, and 
preservation of the Bible see Part I. of the first year's Westminster 
Teacher Training Course, 



CHAPTER II 



THE NATURE OF GOD * 

The Bible being infallible because itself ''the word of God," and 
containing all that we need to know in this world as regards the 
eternal life in Him, we ought, in the teachable spirit of little chil- 
dren, first to study its doctrine of the divine nature. 

A. Like Ourselves, "God is a Spirit" (John IV: 24). 

a. He is a personal being. As each of us, He is distinct and sep- 
arate from all other beings ; as we are, He is conscious of Himself 
as thus distinct and separate ; and, as also in our case, He is never 
determined in His choosing by any external constraint, nor yet by 
any inherent physical necessity, as when a tree produces a flower, 
nor even by any animal instinct, as when a bird makes her nest ; but 
always and only in accordance with and in response to His own 
rational nature (Gen. 1:26; Dan. IV: 35). This implies that, also 
like ourselves, God knows and feels (Gen. VI : 5, 6). 

b. He is a moral being. He lives in the light of the eternal dif- 
ference between right and wrong. He determines Himself, not only 
as He wishes, but also always as He ought (Gen. XVIII: 25). 

B. Unlike Ourselves, but like the Angels, God is Only a 
Spirit. Neither vitally nor otherwise, is He united with a body 
(Deut. IV: 15, 16). All apparently contrary representations, as 
Ps. XXXII : 4, are figurative. 

C. Unlike both Ourselves and tke Angels, God is Unique 
and Supreme. He stands absolutely by Himself, and there is 
nothing with which to compare Him or by which to explain Him 
(Isa. XL: 18). 

a. God is self-existent. Unlike all else. He neither has nor de- 
mands any cause or reason outside of Himself. He alone exists 
necessarily, of Himself and for Himself (Acts XVII: 25). 

*See "Confession of Faith," Chapter II; also "Popular Lectures on Theolog- 
ical Themes/' Lectures I and VI. 

14 



THE NATURE OF GOD 



b. God is infinite. Unlike all others, there are no limitations to 
His being, His knowledge, His power, His righteousness, His 
goodness. His truth. 

(1) His being is superior to the limitations and conditions im- 
posed on the creatures of His hand by time, space, and degree. He 
is eternal; He is immeasurable; He is incomparable. "The whole 
God is always everywhere," and He is always everywhere unique 
(Ps. CXXXIX:7-i2). 

(2) His knowledge embraces Himself and the universe, past, 
present, and future ; and it comprehends both in one all-including 
intuition (Heb. IV: 13). 

(3) His power is inexhaustible and perfect in mode of action (Isa. 
XL: 28). So far as power itself is concerned, "With God all things 
are possible" (Matt. XIX: 26). His activity, however, has two 
limitations. One is His will. In God, as in us, there is a distinction 
between will and power (Eph. 1:9). He does not do all that He 
can; He does only what He has purposed. The other limitation is 
His nature. Because God is self-determined or free. He cannot 
purpose contrary to His nature any more than we can (II Tim. 
II: 13). He has power enough to do wrong, but He lacks the will 
to do it : and He could not will to act wrongly or unreasonably ; for 
His self or nature is perfectly righteous and reasonable. 

(4) His righteousness, as just remarked, is absolute. He is ex- 
actly just. God is ever all that He Himself ought to be, and He 
never appoints for any of His creatures less than ought to be ap- 
pointed or more than may rightly be appointed (Dan. IX: 14; 
Rom. II: 5, 6). This is so because He is essentially and necessarily 
righteous. He does not determine what is right arbitrarily: He 
expresses and illustrates it naturally; for it is the most vital element 
of His life. Whatever He wills, therefore, is right; for He can, as 
we have seen, will only in accordance with His nature, and this is 
the right itself. Hence, what God is is both the ground and the 
standard of right. What God is is right, and we ought to do right 
because of what God is (Lev. XIX: 2; Matt. V:48). 

(5) His goodness, in all its forms, is boundless. It includes (a) 
benevolence, which has for its objects all sensitive creatures (Ps. 
CXLV:9); (b) love, which has rational beings for its objects 
(John III : 16) ; (c) mercy, which has for its objects the miserable 
(Isa. LXIII:9); (d) grace, which has for its objects the unde- 



i6 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



serving (Rom. V:8). When any suffer, it is at least because this 
is right ; it cannot be because of lack of power or of mercy in God. 
When sinners are lost it is at least because His justice so requires; 
it cannot be because God lacks either the power '(Heb. VII 125) or 
the wish to save them (I Tim. 11:4). Hence, "God is love" (I 
John IV: 8). Though He is much else, love is that in which He 
delights. IMoreover, as the expression of His love ever harmonizes 
with His justice, so His justice is always exercised in love. God 
never feels so much compassion as when H.e punishes most severely 
(Ezek. XXXIII: II). 

(6) His truth is absolute. He neither will nor can disappoint 
the promise of His works or of His Word or of His nature. We 
always know exactly how we shall find Him. Variously though He 
may act, in Himself and in His principles of action. He is and must 
always be the same (Heb. XIII: 8; II Tim. II: 13). 
D. God's Relation to the World is as Follows:— 

a. God is incomprehensihle. We may know Him truly in so far as 
He has revealed Himself to us, but what even He can reveal of 
Himself to us is as nothing to what He is. From the nature of the 
case, the finite can never comprehend the Infinite (Job XI: 7-9). 
Yet we should not on this account distrust our knowledge of God as 
derived from nature (Rom. I: 20; II: 15), and from the Bible (John 
V:39), and, above all, from Christ (John I: 18). Though very 
partial, it must be true. What He who is "the Truth" teaches us 
cannot but be true. No future revelation can reverse it. Though 
the love of Christ "passeth knowledge," we may "know" even it 
(Eph. IIIiiQ). 

b. God is immanent in the world. He is "everywhere present in 
every point of space and within the inmost constitution of all created 
things at the same time." He acts from within everything and 
through its own forces and in accordance with its own laws. Thus 
He both upholds it in being and determines its being. Hence, "all 
things live and move and have their being" in Him (Acts XVII : 28) ; 
and, hence, too, all things reveal Him (Rom. I: 20). 

c. God is transcendent. Though in the world and in closest touch 
with it, God is, nevertheless, distinct from it, before and above it, 
and independent of it. The world might be blotted out, but God 
would exist the same that He is now. He did exist eternally before 
He brought the world into being. He acts on the world from with- 



THE NATURE OF GOD 



17 



out as well as from within, directly as well as through the activities 
which He has given to it. He takes pleasure in the world as the work 
of His own hands, but He does not need the world for His pleasure; 
in this, as in all else, He is self-sufficient. As does no other. He 
feels for the world's sorrow: but this is only because He conde- 
scends to do so; He could be absolutely undisturbed by it. In a 
word, God is "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity" (Isa. 
LVn:i5). 

E. In the Unity of tlie Godhead are Tliree Persons. 

a. The one and only God, indivisible in His essence (Deut. 
VI 14), exists necessarily and eternally as Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit (Matt. XXVIII: ig) ; and though these three are of the same 
substance and are equal in power and glory and always act together, 
with one mind and one will, yet are they so truly distinct that one 
can address the others (John XVII: 5), one can send the others 
(John XIV: 26), we can pray to each one of them (Eph. Ill: 14), 
each one of them, as will be seen later, has a characteristic office 
in our redemption, and in their manner of existence and of working 
they are subordinated, the Spirit to the Son and the Son and Spirit 
to the Father (Matt. XXVni:i9). 

b. These facts cannot be explained; there is nothing with which 
to compare them. Yet they involve no contradiction; the doctrine 
is not that one person is three persons ; it is that one Being exists 
as three persons. 

c. This is a helpful conception. It throws some light on the self- 
sufficiency of God. The ground of this is in the ineffable intimacy 
and love of the three persons of the Godhead. 

F. The Prerogative arising ont of All These Perfections 
of God is His Sovereignty. 

a. He both ought to have and does have absolute dominion over 
us and all creation (Dan. IV: 35). 

b. His own glory and the exercise of His perfections are and 
ought to be His eternal purpose and the reason for the whole world. 
Because God is both self-existent and the perfection of righteousness 
and goodness, all beings and things must find their reason in Him, 
and their highest possible good in making known His excellence 
(Rom. XI: 36). 



CHAPTER III 



GOD'S WORK OF CREATION AND PROVIDENCE • 

God, because the self-existent, infinite, and perfect personality, 
has a purpose or plan. 

A. The Purpose or Plan of God is Free and Sovereign. 

a. He plans and acts, never from outward constraint, never from 
inherent physical necessity, as a tree grows, nor yet from instinct, 
as the swallow flies southward on the approach of winter, but always 
from a sufficient reason (Eph. I: ii). 

b. Unlike ourselves, this siffficient reason is ever wholly in Him- 
self and not at all in other persons or things (Rom. XI : 34) ; it is 
not found in any need that God feels (Acts XVII: 25) ; but rather 
in His self-sufficiency, which rejoices thus to express itself; His 
purpose is in no case suspended on any condition, but as it embraces 
all events of every kind, so God has determined certainly whatever 
occurs (Eph. 1 : 11). 

c. A little reflection will show that all this is necessarily implied 
in tJie very conception of God as well as taught explicitly in the 
Bible. God could not be the self-existent, infinite, and perfect Per- 
sonality, if He did not have a plan, or if anything were left out of 
His plan, or if His plan were determined by anything outside of 
Himself, or if in Himself there were any, even the least, insuffi- 
ciency, or if contingency and uncertainty could attach in any case 
to His plan or its accomplishment. 

B. The Design of God's Purpose or Plan is His Own 
Glory and the Exercise of His Perfections (Rom. XI: 36). 
At this point, too, there is the sharpest contrast between God and 
ourselves. Because of what God is, He ought to live for Himself ; 
for no other or others than Himself could afford an end so high ; and 
it must be best for the world that He should plan all things for His 

*See "Confession of Faith," Chapters III, IV, V; also "Popular Lectures on 
Theological Themes," I^ectures II, III, VII. 

18 



GOD'S WORK OF CREATION AND PROVIDENCE 



19 



own glory; for how could He so bless the world as to use it to make 
known His infinite love and absolute righteousness? 

C. God begins to carry out His Eternal and All-compre- 
hending and Unchangeable and Infinitely Blessed and 
Absolutely Righteous Purpose or Flan in His Work of 
Creation. 

a. The work of creation is tzvofold: (i) Immediate creation, or 
the origination of the material — i. e., the principles and causes of 
all things (Gen. I:i). (2) Mediate creation, or the origination of 
the different forms of things, and especially of different species 
of living beings, out of the already created material (Gen 1:2-31). 
The former, of course, was instantaneous and due solely to the act 
of God; the latter was gradual and the result of the cooperation of 
God with what He had called into being. 

b. The distinctive agent in the zchole work of creation is the sec- 
ond person of the Godhead, the Son or Word of God (John 1:3). 

c. The process of creation, from the nature of the case, is and 
must be incomprehensible to all save God. The basal fact is that 
the material of the universe was called into being "out of nothing" 
by the command of the Son of God (Ps. XXXni:6; Heb. XI: 3). 

d. The mediate creation, or the formation of the material thus 
brought into being, took place in six stages or in six ''days." These, 
as the scriptural usage of the word permits and as science estab- 
lishes, were periods of indefinite length, 

e. The whole creation, when -finished by God, was, as His nature 
demanded of His work, "very good" (Gen. I: 31). There was not 
even a tendency to evil in the world as God made it, and every being 
and every thing in it was perfectly fitted to realize its inherent end 
in His supremely glorious plan. 

D. God goes on in the Execution of His Plan by His Work 
of Providence. This includes : — 

a. Preservation, (i) Having called the material of the world into 
existence and given to it its form, God continues to uphold it as a 
whole and in all its parts, properties, and powers (Heb. 1:3; Ps. 
CIV). (2) This does not mean that living creatures do not have 
life in themselves or that things do not exist as real individuals ; it 
does mean that the former do not have life of themselves and that 
the latter do not exist of themselves. Both, and both equally, de- 



20 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



pend absolutely on God for their continuance as well as for their 
creation (Ps. CIV: 27-30). 

b. Government. Thus God secures certainly and perfectly that the 
world, as a whole and in every one of its parts, which He has cre- 
ated and is preserving, shall accomplish His purpose or plan, 

(1) This government of God is universal and absolute. It effects 
precisely what God from the first intended (Dan. IV: 35), and it 
does this without exception. Thus God's control extends over (a) 
nature (Acts XIV: 17), (b) over the animal world (Job XII: 10), 
(c) over nations (Dan. II: 21), (d) over individual men (Prov. 
XVI: 9), (e) over the free acts of men (Prov. XVI: i), (f) even 
over sinful actions and states (Ps. LXXVI:io). Hence, nothing 
comes to pass which is not providential, nothing which God has not 
foreseen and brought about in accordance with His eternal and ab- 
solutely righteous and infinitely blessed purpose or plan. 

(2) God stands, however, in a different relation to different 
classes of events, (a) To sinful acts and states His relation is per- 
missive. It is, however, never a bare permission. Sinful acts and 
states occur because God has determined that they should, and to 
the degree to which and for the ends for which He has determined 
(Ps. LXXVI:io). Between them and all other acts and states 
there is no difference so far as God's control over them is concerned. 
The difference between God's relation to them and to other acts 
and states is that, though He freely determines to permit them to 
occur. He always abhors them (Zech. VIII : 17) ; and though He 
determines to permit them for His glory and ever controls and over- 
rules them to this end, He never originates or contributes to the 
evil in them (James 1 : 13, 14). (b) To all other than sinful acts 
and states God's relation, even when not efficient, is positive. He 
approves them and contributes to them as well as permits and up- 
holds or directs them. Yet here, too, there are important differ- 
ences : God cooperates with the forces of nature in the production 
of their appropriate effects (I Cor. XV: 38). He so combines these 
forces as specially to determine their appropriate effects when other- 
wise these would not realize His particular ends. Thus He sends 
rain at one time rather than at another (James V: 17, 18). He 
exercises a like control over mankind (Prov. XVI: 9). That is, 
God does on His immense scale what every man does on his little 
scale; He so directs nature that it carries out His plan; and what 



god's work of creation and providence 



21 



we call "special" or "extraordinary providences" arise in proportion 
as the divine direction appears (John XXI: ii). Again, through the 
truth of the gospel or through the natural light of reason or of 
conscience, God acts graciously on all men, to a greater or less ex- 
tent, restraining them from evil and persuading them to good (Acts 
VII: 51). Once more, God acts immediately, both on the world 
and on men. In addition to cooperating with nature and directing 
it and working through and on the truth revealed in it and to it. 
He interposes supernaturally in it. He puts out His own hand and 
performs works called "miracles," which only His own immediate 
power could have produced (John XI : 43, 44) ; and He does in the 
souls of those whom He makes "new men in Christ" what even 
"the truth as it is in Jesus," though applied and reenforced by Him- 
self, could not by itself have effected (Eph. II: 5). 

(3) As to the ultimate method of God's action in any of the ways 
just mentioned, whether through natural causes or directly, we 
know nothing save that it must be consistent with God Himself 
(II Tim. 11:13). (a) This, however, implies: That it is in- 
variably righteous (Gen, XVIII: 25), and that it is perfectly con- 
gruous to the nature of His creatures and with the laws of their 
action. This nature and these laws are His work, and, therefore, 
it is impossible to think of Him as ever violating them, and He does 
not suspend them (Gen. VIII: 22). Hence, so far from destroy- 
ing human freedom, it is God's plan to develop it (Phil. II: 13); 
and so far from His accomplishment of His plan keeping any who 
call on His name from salvation, it is precisely because of His 
fidelity to His plan that "whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
Lord shall be saved" (Rom. X: 13). (b) How God's operation can 
always be thus congruous with the nature of all His creatures and 
with all the laws of their action will appear when we remember, that 
God has planned whatever comes to pass and constituted whatever 
is (Eph. I: 11; John 1:3), that the essence of everything and the 
relations of all things are comprehended by Him (Ps. CXXXIX ; 
Heb. IV: 13), and that He is ever present and active within the 
inmost constitution of all things (Acts XVII: 28). 



CHAPTER IV 



THE NATURE AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN * 

We have now glanced at the biblical doctrine with respect to God's 
word, His nature, His purpose and activity. How does all this bear 
on ourselves? Thus we are led to inquire as to the biblical doctrine 
of man. 

A. The Nature of Man. 

a. Man consists of two distinct principles, a soul and a body 
(Matt. X:28). (i) The soul of man is a real existence; it itself 
thinks and feels and wills as truly as the body breathes and eats and 
moves, and we are conscious that what in us thinks and feels and 
wills remains identically what it was. Hence, the soul is not a mere 
series of mental acts or states; it is not a form of the life of God; 
it is not simply a force ; it is a spiritual existence that acts and on 
which God acts and which has force of its own, as truly an ex- 
istence as the body itself (Matt. XVI: 26). (2) The soul is a real 
existence distinct and dif¥erent from the body; it is neither a finer 
form of the body nor a result of the activities of the body; its ex- 
istence is its own (Dan. VH : 15). (3) Soul and body are, both of 
them, essential parts of man. The body is not simply "the casket of 
the soul." If without the spirit or soul the body becomes "dust," so 
without the body the soul is only "a spirit"; it is not a complete 
man (Eccl. XII: 7). 

b. The soul is the vital, the intellectual, the moral, the religious, 
principle in man, that is, the self itself (Matt. XVI: 26). It is be- 
cause we have souls that we are not things; and it is because we are 
self-conscious, moral, and religious souls, i. e., persons, that we 
are not mere animals. 

c. The soul of man is free or self-determining. We can always 
choose, and we always do choose as we really wish to choose (Matt. 

*See "Confession of Faith," Chapters VII and IX; also "Popular Lectures 
on Theological Themes," I^ectures VIII, IX. 

22 



THE NATURE AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN 



23 



XII: 34). That is, as we never choose without a sufficient reason; 
so that reason is never ultimately in anything external to us, nor 
in anything merely physical or instinctive even within us, but ever 
in our own individual wills expressing our own rational natures. 
Hence, we are invariably responsible for our voluntary acts and for 
our choices and even for our dispositions ; they are our own ; they 
express always our own selves (Josh. XXIV: 15). 

d. The soul of man is naturally immortal. In this respect also we 
differ from the animals (Eccl. Ill: 21) : though we depend on God 
for the continuance of our existence as truly as do they, yet, it being 
His purpose to sustain us forever, He has constituted our souls for 
immortality (Matt. XXV: 46). 

B. The Origin of Man. 

a. The soul of Adam, the first man, was created immediately by 
God out of nothing (Gen. II: 7; Eccl. XII: 7). 

b. Adam's body, however, zvas formed out of preexisting material 
but also by the intervention of God. It did not grow of itself; nor 
was it wholly produced by any process of providential but natural 
evolution : God Himself, in cooperation with nature, worked it up 
(Gen. 11:7). When we inquire the date, or the precise method of 
His creation of man we meet the unknown. 

C. The Original State of Man. 

a. Man was created in a state of maturity and perfection. He was 
created perfectly adapted to the end for which he was made and to 
the sphere in which he was to move. Though as to mxany things he 
must have known much less than we know, he could learn all that 
his situation required; and though his body must have been suffi- 
ciently susceptible to pain to insure his safety, it was not subject, as 
are ours, to sickness and infirmity (Gen. II), 

b. Ma7i was created "in the image of God" (Gen. 1:27). He was 
made like God; and this likeness, as was observed, consists in our 
intellectual and moral nature. As God is, we are endowed with 
reason, conscience, and will. Thus, as He is, we are spirits or 
persons. Hence, we can pray to Him and He can speak to us ; and 
so, because of this community of nature, communion with God and 
thus religion become possible. 

c. Man was created righteous. He was precisely what such an 
intellectual and moral being as he was ought to be (Gen. 1:31). 
This involved, of course, (i) The harmony and equilibrium of his 



24 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



constitution. His reason was subject to God; his will, to his rea- 
son; his affections and appetites, to his will; his body, to his soul. 
(2) Knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Col. Ill: 10; Eph. 
IV: 24). By knowledge is meant especially the knowledge of God. 
Man was created having this ; Adam knew God as really as God 
knew him (Gen. 111:8). The principles of the law of God, too, 
were implanted in his nature (Rom. II : 14, 15). By righteousness 
and holiness is meant, not only that Adam knew his duty perfectly 
and had all the faculties for its performance, but also that he had 
the disposition to do it and actually did it. At all times he did and 
was all that he ought. 

d. Man was created with dominion over the creatures. This arose 
from the power with which he v/as invested and from the express 
appointment of God. He made man for absolutely universal do- 
minion, so far as creatures are concerned (Heb. 11:8). 

D. God's Covenant witli Man. ]\Ian, because created in com- 
munion with God, was, as we have seen, perfectly righteous, hut, 
because finite, he was not, in and of himself, infallibly righteous. 
Therefore, God entered into a covenant of life with him. That 
man might develop himself morally and thus merit, and so become 
confirmed in and enjoy forever, the fruit of the blessed state of 
communion with God and consequent righteousness in which he was 
created, God condescended to make the following agreement with 
him (Gen. II : 16, 17) :— 

a. God, on His part, promised to man life (Luke X:28). (i) 
Man's body, instead of wearing out, should be continued in vigor 
forever (Rom. V:i2). (2) Man's soul should be supernaturally 
established in communion with God, in the resulting righteousness, 
and so in the enjoyment of the divine favor, in which is life 
(Ps. XXX: 5). 

b. God conditioned this covenant on man's perfect obedience (Gal. 
Ill: 10). As man was able and disposed to obey, as he was most 
favorably situated for obedience, and as his present prosperity and 
true happiness lay in it, so God required this of him if he would be 
confirmed by Him in it and in the enjoyment of it.. 

c. The penalty attached to disobedience was death (Gen. II: 17). 
In the event of disobedience, (i) the body should be destroyed by 
disease and violence; and (2) the soul should lose communion with 



THE NATURE AND ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN 



25 



God and the consequent righteousness, and should become exposed 
to His wrath and curse (Gen. II: 17; Gal. Ill: 10). 

Such was the supremely favorable and yet unspeakably solemn 
condition in which man was created and started on his career. He 
was given the best opportunity conceivable to secure for himself and 
his posterity perpetually indestructible life and blessedness, though 
this appointment, of course, necessarily involved the fatal possibility 
of losing them. 



CHAPTER V 



SIN * 

Perfect and blessed though man's original state was, his present 
condition is far otherwise. Conscience condemns him (Rom. II : 15, 
16). Even when he would do good, "evil is present" (Rom. 
VII: 21). He is born to trouble (Job V:7). He is subject to 
pain and death (Gen. Ill: 19), The world around him is in like 
manner and on account of him disordered and miserable (Gen. 
Ill: 17; Rom. VIII: 22). Evidently he has fallen from the good 
and glorious estate in which God created him ; he has come under 
the penalty of the covenant of life; he has not fulfilled his part of it; 
he has sinned (Rom. V: 12). 

A. The Nature of Sin. 

a. Sin is not a being or a thing. It cannot be this : for God made 
all that is, except Himself (John 1:3); and all that He made was, 
as He made it, "very good" (Gen. I: 31). 

b. As evil is a state consisting in deviation from good, so sin is a 
specific evil; it is deviation from law, or lawlessness (I John III : 4). 

c. The law in the violation or neglect of which sin consists is not 
our own happiness, nor the greatest good of the greatest number of 
beings, nor yet the eternal fitness of things, nor even our own 
reason; it is that toward which all these point and on obedience to 
which all these depend, the law of God, the expressed will of Him 
whose nature is, as we saw, both the ground and the standard of 
right (Rom. II : 15 ; HI: 19). 

d. The state of lawlessness in zvhich sin consists can be affirmed 
only of rational and moral beings. Only such can recognize and feel 
the claim of God's law; only such, consequently, can be responsible 
to it; only such, therefore, can transgress or ignore it. The Bible 
attributes sin to angels and men, but never to the lower animals. 

e. Rational and moral beings can sin in virtue of their voluntary 
*See "Confession of Faith," Chapter VI. 

26 



SIN 



27 



nature. The reason for this is that as incHnation from law, in which 
sin consists, presupposes responsibility to law, so this can be af- 
firmed only of self-determination or voluntariness as distinguished 
from what is simply created. Thus our natural appetites, desires, 
and affections, while they may become occasions of sin, are not 
themselves sinful ; they result entirely from the constitution which 
God gave to Adam, and for which, therefore, if it had been evil, God 
could not hold him or anyone, save Himself, responsible. Even, 
however, the merest inclination of these feelings, desires, or appe- 
tites from their divinely appointed objects or measure will be sinful; 
not only are they inclinations from what God has required, they are 
wholly our own and in no sense God-made. Hence, the Bible says 
(Jer. XVHip), "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is 
exceedingly corrupt." The heart is the voluntary nature; it is self- 
determination ; it expresses what one is himself; it is the man him- 
self; because only it is self-determination, only it can be the man 
himself (Matt. XV: 19). 

f. Sin can attach to the voluntary nature in every one of its forms. 
All our actions not merely mechanical, whether deliberate or only 
impulsive, can be sinful ; and this is as true of our habits and even 
of our dispositions. In so far as we incline it is our own act or 
state ; and in so far as our own act or state is away from what God 
requires or is^ it is sin (Eph. IV: 18, 19). 

B. The Origin of Sin. 

a. The first sin of man was his inclination for knowledge through 
means forbidden by God (Gen. Ill: 1-6). 

b. This inclination expressed: (i) Unbelief. Adam doubted the 
wisdom of the divine prohibition and the certainty of the divine 
threatening. (2) Disobedience. Adam set his will in opposition to 
God's will. 

c. This, man's first sinful inclination, was self-originated. He 
started this first evil inclination out of nothing, purely by his own 
self-determination. It must have been so: for although in our case 
to-day sin is the self-determined result of our own corrupt nature 
(James I: 14), Adam's nature was "very good"; and although 
God can and does start good inclinations out of nothing. He can 
not start evil ones (James I: 13). 

d. There was, however, an external occasion for man's first sinful 
inclination in the temptation by the serpent (Gen. Ill: 1-5) ; i. e., by 



28 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



Satan in the form of a serpent (Rev. XX: 2). This occasion, 
though it does not explain, does lighten the mystery which sur- 
rounds the beginning of man's first sin. 

e. The true origin of sin, therefore, is to he referred to the fall of 
Satan and his angels, (i) When or how or why this took place, we 
do not know fully. The Bible does not tell us, and there are so 
many unknown quantities in the problem that reason cannot solve it. 
(2) We do know, however, (a) from the narrative, that Satan must 
have fallen before man fell; (b) from God's estimate of the crea- 
tion, that He made Satan a holy angel, and then he let himself de- 
generate into a devil; (c) from God's nature, that He abhors sin 
with infinite abhorrence and could have forever kept Satan from 
originating it; (d) from God's plan, that He determined to permit 
it in order to the better making known of His excellence; (e) from 
God's love, that He would tell us all concerning it, did we need to 
know; and (f) that, consequently, it must be very wrong as well as 
foolish for us to let our necessary ignorance on this subject shake 
our faith in God's goodness, or interfere with our activity or com- 
fort. The child does not cease rejoicing in his father's love for him 
because he does not know enough to understand all of his father's 
course before he himself was born. 

C. The Extent of Sin. 

a. It is universal. All men, without exception, are sinners 
(I Kings VHI:46). 

b. It is all- pervasive. Every human being is totally depraved 
(Rom. VH : 18). (i) This does not mean that all men are equally 
bad, or that any man is as bad as he could be, or that anyone is 
destitute of virtue (Rom. H: 14). (2) It does mean that by nature 
all men are out of communion with God and so are totally — in all 
their parts, faculties, and powers — cut off from the source of all 
righteousness (Col. I: 21). There is in them no principle of spir- 
itual and moral life. Their very virtues are but picked and fading 
flowers. 

D. The Reason for the Universality of Sin is to be f onnd 
in Adam's Relation to All Men (Rom. V: 17-19). 

a. Humanity was constituted a race. Adam was not only the 
first of men, but also the common ancestor of all men. Hence, he 
was called by a generic name, Adam, the Man (Gen. H:7). Man- 
kind, therefore, is not a company of independent individuals, but is 



SIN 



29 



a series the members of which, through descent from a common an- 
cestor and the possession of a common nature, form a unity more 
truly than do the citizens of a nation (Acts XVII: 26). Conse- 
quently, as a nation can, they can be acted for by a proper public 
person and so can themselves be treated as having themselves acted 
in that person. 

b. As our common ancestor, Adam was a proper public person, 
and he zvas appointed by God to be such. That is, the "covenant of 
life" referred to in the last chapter was made with him, not for him- 
self only, but also for all his posterity. If he stood his probation, 
they would be confirmed in righteousness with him. If he fell, they 
would fall with him (Gen. II: 17; Rom. V: 12). 

c. Since Adam, as the penalty and consequence of his own sin, 
lost communion with God; so all his posterity, inasmuch as he 
acted for them and they in him, are born iindcr his penalty and are 
subject to the same consequences, and thus, as he came to be, are 
out of communion zvifh God (I Cor. XV: 22), 

d. // it be asked. Why is it that the fortunes of the race have been 
thus staked on the conduct of one? it may be said: (i) That we 
cannot solve the problem, does not affect the fact that the word of 
God so teaches positively and plainly. (2) Neither should it lead 
us to doubt the righteousness of God. This, as we have seen, is 
always guaranteed by His nature (Gen. XVIII: 25). (3) No fairer 
probation could be conceived than that which the human race had in 
Adam; for he was created (a) in full possession of his faculties, 
(b) in the perfect image of God, and (c) in a most favorable en- 
vironment. (4) It was just such an arrangement as we deem best 
in national affairs, and, therefore, presumably, as each one of us 
would have chosen for himself in this matter, could we have been 
consulted in advance. (5) It was part of a glorious constitution 
which culminates in the headship of Christ as our Redeemer 
(I Cor. XV: 22). 

E. The Consequences of Adam's Sin. 

a. All men are born guilty before God. They are under the pen- 
alty of His law (Eph. II: 3)- 

b. All men, therefore, even infants who have never sinned in their 
ozvn persons, are subject to death, spiritual, physical, eternal (Rom. 
VI: 23; V: 12-14). This is the penalty of Adam's sin. 



30 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



c. As Spiritual death consists -in the loss of communion with God, 
zvho is the life of the soul, so in all it must issue: — 

(1) In the absence of the righteousness which Adam forfeited 
(Job XIV: 4). 

(2) In "original sin" or general corruption of nature. This is 
truly and positively sinful (Gen. VI : 5 ; Jer. XVII: 9). Though sin 
is rooted only in our voluntary nature, man's intellect and body are 
affected by it as really as his heart. The former is darkened 
(Rom. 1: 21); the latter is diseased (Rom. VIII : 22) ; even the 
ground is cursed for man's sin (Gen. Ill: 17). 

(3) In actual transgressions. All manifest sin as soon as they 
become old enough for moral action (Prov. XXII: 15). 

(4) In utter inability for all spiritual good (Eph. 11:1). (a) 
This does not mean that original sin or actual transgression destroys 
any faculty of the soul, or impairs self-determination, or is at once 
destructive of the natural virtues, (b) It does mean that, though w^e 
could keep the whole law if we would,, we are not by nature inclined 
so to do, and we cannot incline ourselves against ourselves ; and 
that the reason why we are not so inclined is that by the corruption 
of our whole nature our understanding is blinded as to spiritual 
realities and our tastes and feelings are perverted (I Cor. II : 8, g, 
14). Hence, we cannot even turn to Christ unless God draw us 
(John VI: 44). We have the faculties to do so, but we can see 
nothing to desire in Him. 

Such are the awful as well as universal consequences of the sin 
of our first parent. Because of it we are all born "children of 
wrath," and with a nature so corrupt as continually to increase our 
guilt and also to disable us for all spiritual good. 



CHAPTER VI 



REDEMPTION * 

Redemption is the cure of sin. It is also the revelation, not only 
to men, but even to angels (Eph. 111:9, lo), of "the unsearchable 
riches of God's grace," the most glorious as well as mysterious trait 
of His moral character. That we do not find in this a complete 
explanation of His permission of sin, is simply because no finite 
mind can appreciate salvation (Rom. XI 133). 

A. The Necessity of Redemption arises out of the Sinner's 
liOst and Helpless Condition. 

a. He is in such a relation to God that the very righteousness of 
the latter demands his eternal punishment. By reason of his sin he 
has not only lost communion with God, but has come under the ever- 
lasting condemnation of His law (Matt. XXV: 46; Gal. Ill: 10). 
Hence, God cannot pardon him any more than the judge may dismiss 
the convicted criminal. In the latter case the law forbids. In the 
former case the divine nature, which is the ultimate foundation of 
law, prevents (II Tim. II: 13). A full satisfaction for sin must 
be rendered (Heb. IX: 22). Otherwise, the order and existence of 
all things would be imperiled, for God himself would be dethroned. 

b. This satisfaction the sinner cannot render for himself, (i) He 
is incapable of self-reformation, for he cannot make himself holy 
(Eph. 11:5). (2) If he could, he could meet only the present de- 
mands of the divine law, the sins of the past would still cry out for 
judgment (Matt. XII: 36). 

c. The necessity of redemption, while thus absolute as regards the 
sinner, is, however, only relative as regards God. (i) If the sinner 
is to be saved, God must save him (Acts IV: 12). (2) But it is 
in no sense necessary that the sinner should be saved, (a) Every 
demand of justice would be met by his punishment, (b) Were 

*See "Confession of Faith," Chapters VII, VIII, X, XI, XII, XIV, XV, 
XXXIV, XXXV; also "Popular I^ectures on Theological Themes," lycctures 
IX, X, XI, XII. 

31 



32 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



God simply to let His law take its course, He would still do all 
that He ought and He could still be all that He ought. God cannot 
be under an}^, even the least, obligation to save those who deserve 
only punishment (Eph. H: 1-5). 

B. The Source of Redemption, then, must be God's Unde- 
served Benevolence for Sinners (John ni:i6). 

a. This lozr for sinners is not confined to the Son, but is sJiared 
equally by each person of the Trinity (I John IV: 14). 

b. So far from being explicable and natural on the ground of the 
misery of our race, it is incomprehensible because: (i) This misery 
is the just penalty of man's own sin (Rom. VI: 23). (2) Sin is an 
offense directly against God and so directly against love (I John 
IV: 8). Hence, the supreme proof of love is that God gave His Son 
to die for sinners (Rom. V:8). 

C. God's Compassionate Love for the Sinful and Lost 
Race of Man expresses Itself in the Choice of an Innumer- 
able Multitude of Them (Rev. VII : 9) that He may forever 
delight Himself in Them and in His "Kindness" to Them 
(Eph. H:;). 

a. That God should thus choose out those zcho should be the 
objects of His grace n'as the necessity of the case, unless all sin- 
ners were to receive it alike. 

b. With regard to God's choice of the sinners zi'honi He zi'ill 
make the objects of His special love, zvhat zve have observed as to 
God's nature and plan assures us: (i) It is an eternal choice (Eph. 
1:4). (2) It is a choice of individuals as individuals (John X:3). 
(3) It is a choice unto holiness and eternal life (I Pet. I: 5-9). (4) 
Its reason in each particular case is in God, and not in any faith or 
obedience that He foresees in any (Eph. 1:5). It must be so. In 
the case of those who, as all men, are by nature "dead through 
trespasses and sins," when God foresees faith and obedience, it can 
be only because He has determined himself to give them. (5) As 
to why God does not choose all for eternal life, we may say: (a) 
It cannot be through any lack of power to save (Heb. VII: 25; 
Prov. XXI: i). (b) Neither can it be because of any lack of wish 
to save (I Tim. 11:4). (c) It must be, therefore, that, for reasons 
that we cannot yet fully understand, a universal choice would be in- 
consistent with His righteousness. 



REDEMPTION 



33 



D. The Father carries out this Purpose of Salvation 
through a Redeemer. 

a. This redeemer is His "only-begotten and wcll-hcloved Son," 
the second person of the Trinity (John III: i6 ; Eph. 1:4). 

b. This redeemer, as Adam zvas, is appointed to he and by the 
constitution of His person is fitted to be, a public person. As Adam 
represented and acted for and in the place of the whole human race 
before the law of God, so before it the Son of God represents and 
acts for and in the place of all of the human race given to Him by 
the Father for redemption from the curse of the law (I Cor. 
XV: 22; John VI: 39). 

E. God's Purpose in appointing His Son thus to redeem 
Those Whom He has chosen is: — 

a. That every one given to the Son for salvation should be saved 
(John VI: 39). 

b. That this salvation should be certain from the first (Rom. 
VIII : 29, 30), and that it should be complete (I Cor. 1:30; Col. 
II: 10). God would have His "great salvation" perfect as He Him- 
self is. 

F. The Son of God became the Redeemer of All Those 
given to Him by the Father by taking into Union with 
Himself Our Nature (John I: 14; Phil. II:5-ii), and by put- 
ting Himself in our place in the sight of God the righteous 
Judge (Gal. IV: 4). 

a. This He did by being conceived by the pozuer of the Holy 
Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, in the womb of the Virgin 
Mary, and being born of her (Luke 1 : 31, 35). (i) As this birth 
was supernatural so it did not involve our Redeemer in His mother's 
corruption. He Himself was "without sin" (Heb. IV: 15). (2) As 
to the thus, constituted person of our Redeemer, we are further 
taught: (a) He had a complete human nature; i.e., a true body 
(Heb. II: 14) and a reasonable soul (Matt. XXVI: 38). (b) He 
had a true divine nature (John I: 1-14). (c) These natures exist in 
Him entire and distinct, without mixture or confusion (John VIII : 
58; Luke 11:52). (d) Though having thus two minds and two 
wills, He is one person (Rom. IX: 5). (e) He is thus God and 
man in two distinct natures and one person forever (Lleb. XIII: 8). 
We cannot explain this, for we know of nothing like it; but it 



34 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



involves no contradiction, and it is no more incomprehensible 
than the union of soul and body in our own persons. 

b. Christ put Himself in our place in the sight of God the right- 
eous Judge: (i) By undertaking to obey every requirement of the 
law on us (Matt. Ill: 15). (2) By subjecting Himself to the 
miseries of this life (Isa. LIII:3). (3) By taking on Himself the 
penalty of the law in our stead (Gal. HI: 13). (4) By submitting 
Himself to be buried and to continue under the power of death for 
a time (I Cor. XX : 3, 4). 

G. As Our Bedeemer Christ executes Three Offices: — 

a. The office of a Prophet. Thus He reveals the will of God for 
our salvation (i) by His Word (John I: 18), and (2) by His 
Spirit (John XIV: 26) ; and so He causes us to know God. 

b. The office of a Priest. 

(1) Thus He satisfies every demand of the divine law. This He 
does (a) by taking the place of each one of those given to Him by 
the Father before the broken law of God (II Cor. V:2i), just as 
Adam stood in the place of each member of the human race before 
the then unbroken law of God (I Cor. XV: 22); (b) by rendering 
through His perfect earthly and human life the complete obedience 
due from each one of them (Heb. V: 7-9) ; (c) by enduring in His 
death on the cross, which was voluntary (John X : 18) and penal 
(Rom. IV: 25) and in the strictest sense substitutionary (Mark 
X:45) and because of His divine personality, as also His obedience, 
of infinite worth (Heb. IX: 14), the righteous wrath of God against 
their sins (Isa. LIII:5) ; (d) by rising from the dead as the proof 
that His obedience and punishment had been admitted by the Father 
in place of theirs (Rom. IV: 25); (e) by ascending to the right 
hand of the Father ever to urge in their behalf, and specially on the 
occasion of their particular transgressions, and with all the sym- 
pathy made possible by His human nature and temptation (Heb. 
II : 17, 18; IV: 15), the merits of His sacrificial life and death 
already accepted in lieu of theirs (Heb. VII: 25). 

(2) The effect of Christ's priestly work is threefold: {a) The 
guilt of every one of the objects of it, as soon as the sinner accepts 
of it, is taken away (Rom. VIII: i). (b) God is then and thus 
reconciled to them (Heb. II: 17). This does not mean that Christ 
died to cause God to love those whom He had chosen. On the 
contrary, as we have seen, it was because of God's compassion for 



REDEMPTION 



35 



all sinners that He chose any and gave them to Christ for salvation 
(John III: i6). What it does mean is that Christ obeyed and died 
and rose and intercedes for those whom God had chosen, that it 
might become consistent with God's absolute righteousness for Him 
to make them "the sons" of His special love in rendering them such 
that He may and can delight Himself in them and they in Him 
(Rom. HI: 26). (c) Their relationship to God is completely re- 
versed. As regards the law of God, they have changed places with 
Christ. He has taken on Himself all their liability to punishment 
and all their obligation to perfect obedience, and, consequently, God 
views them and treats them as if they were clothed in all Christ's 
righteousness (Rom. X:4). Hence, their sins are all pardoned 
(Eph. 1:7); they themselves are accepted as if they had fulfilled 
every demand of the law (H Cor. V:2i); whereas Adam before 
he fell was only a "servant," they are now adopted into the family 
of God (I John HI: i), being made both brethren of Christ (Rom. 
Vni:29) and "joint-heirs" with Him (Rom. VHI:i7). Thus by 
redemption they are brought into a far closer relation with God 
than that which was lost in the fall. 

c. The office of a King. Thus Christ can and does cause all 
■things to "work together" for the highest good of all given to Him 
by the Father (Rom. Vni:28), Of this kingship of Christ we may 
affirm: (i) It is bestowed on Him by the Father as the reward of 
His obedience and suffering as Redeemer (Phil. II:7-ii). (2) Its 
particular reference is to the salvation of His own people (Eph. 
1:22). (3) It attaches not to His divine nature exclusively, but to 
His divine-human personality. A man now sits upon the mediatorial 
throne (Acts VII: 55). (4) It is all-comprehensive, (a) Christ is 
directing the whole course of providence (Matt. XXVIII: 18) ; this 
is His kingdom of power, (b) Christ is ruling over His own 
spiritual people individually (John X:3), and over His professed 
people collectively organized in the visible church (Matt. XXVIII: 
19, 20) ; this is His kingdom of grace, (c) At the consummation all 
those eternally chosen by God in Christ shall be gathered out of the 
world and Christ shall reign absolutely over them and completely in 
them (Rev. XXII : 3, 4) ; this is His kingdom of glory. (5) The 
effects of Christ's mediatorial rule are: (a) that His people are sub- 
dued to Himself (Ps. CX:3); (b) that they are defended against 
His and their enemies (Acts XVIII : 9, 10) ; (c) that they are en- 



36 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



abled to derive spiritual blessings from the whole course of provi- 
dence (I Thess, V:i8), so that afflictions, even though the con- 
sequences of their sins, can work out glory for them (II Cor. IV: 
17) and death becomes to them no longer the penalty of sin, but the 
gate of heaven (II Cor. V:8); and (d) that thus at last they 
are brought off "more than conquerors through Him that loved 
us" (Rom. VIII: 37). 

H. Christ's Work inures also to tlie Benefit of All Sin- 
ners, and not only to Those Who were given to Him for Re- 
demption. 

a. What He did as the Redeemer of the latter is, and was in- 
tended to he, sufficient for and adapted to the redemption of the 
former (I John 11:2). It could not be otherwise; Christ's work is 
of infinite worth, and there is no difference between the former and 
the latter as to the kind of redemption needed (Rom. 111:22, 23). 

b. Hence, (i) the gospel ought to be preached to all men (Mark 
XVI: 15) ; for (a) God wishes all to be saved (I Tim, 11:4), and 

(b) has provided in Christ a free salvation ample for all and suited 
for all if only they will take it. (2) Everyone who hears of Christ 
ought to accept Him as his Saviour; for (a) God wishes him to do 
so, (b) he cannot be saved unless he does so (Acts IV: 12), and 

(c) the only thing that must or does prevent him from doing so is 
his own sin. (3) Moreover, it is through the universal offer of the 
gospel that God's purpose of salvation is carried out, and it is only 
thus that it can be carried out. Ignorant as to who those are whom 
He had chosen to bring to accept it, we must offer it to all, if we 
would offer it to them; and unless it is offered to them, even they 
cannot believe and so accept it (Rom. X: 13-17). 

I. The Entrance of Any into the Redemption thus Gra- 
ciously and Completely provided by God and wrought out 
by Christ is through Faith in Christ in His Three Offices, 
and through It Alone (Acts XVI: 31; Rom. X:i3). 

a. This does not mean that such faith issues in salvation be- 
cause it renders us deserving of it; but because it is the arm which 
lays hold of it, the medium through which it comes to us. This 
must be so; for saving faith itself is a "gift," and so can merit 
nothing (Eph. 11:8). 

b. Saving faith does not consist in knoivledge that Christ is the 



\ 



REDEMPTION 



37 



Saviour of sinners and in assent to this proposition. It includes 
such knowledge and assent, but is' much more. 

c. It is such a trust in Christ as our Redeemer as enables its, just 
as we are, to receive and rest on Christ alone for salvation as He 
is freely offered to us in the gospel (Acts XV: ii). It is simply 
taking Christ at His word that "whosoever believeth on Him should 
not perish, but have eternal life" (John III: i6). 

d. It necessarily involves repentance for our sins (Acts 11:38). 
For unless one hates his sins as such and means to try to renounce 
them, he cannot see any beauty in the Saviour from sin that he 
should desire Him and so trust in Him. 

J. Hence, we are brought to consider God's Saving Work 
in Us. 

a. The necessity for this is threefold: (i) As the sinner cannot 
trust in Christ as his Saviour from sin until he hates sin as sin ; so 
though he may dread the punishment of sin, he cannot hate it itself 
while he is spiritually dead because of it. He can no more hate it 
than the pig can hate dirt. It is not in the nature of the sinner's 
self-determination to do so (Rom, VII: 14). If he is to desire the 
redemption that is in Christ, he must receive a new disposition, he 
must be born again and from above (John 111:3). (2) Could he 
accept redemption as he is, it would not be salvation for him. 
Heaven would be worse than hell to one whose sin, in addition to 
making a hell of his heart, would cause him to loathe the atmos- 
phere of heaven. If such an one is to appreciate salvation, he needs 
a new disposition, he must be born again and from above (John 
111:3). (3) Were this not so, the righteousness of God would im- 
pose the same demand. He cannot, because He may not, save 
sinners in sin (Heb. XII: 14, 29). 

b. The agent of the new birth is the Holy Spirit, the third person 
of the Trinity (John 111:5). (i) The Holy Spirit is sent by the 
Father (John XIV: 26), and also by the Son (John XV: 26). (2) 
As His mission as Regenerator was included in Christ's eternal pur- 
pose of redemption, and was thus included as based on His priestly 
work; so it has exclusive reference to those who were given to the 
Son before the foundation of the world for salvation (II Thess. II: 
13, 14; Rom. XI: 7), and for whom therefore He acted as high 
priest. 

c. As to the nature of the nezu birth, we are taught: (i) It is an 



38 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



instantaneous change in the moral nature ; for it is a transition from 
death to life (Eph, II: 5). (2) For the same reason it is a radical 
change. (3) It is a permanent change, for the life imparted is im- 
mortal (Rom. VIII : 28-30). (4) It is a change which affects the whole 
soul, (a) The mind is enlightened in the knowledge of Christ (Eph. 
1 : 17, 18). (b) The will is renewed (Ezek. XXXVI : 26, 27). (c) The 
sinner is persuaded and enabled to embrace Jesus Christ as He is 
freely offered in the gospel (John VI : 37, 44, 45). (5) It is a 
change in which the soul is passive and unconscious. A dead man 
cannot be instrumental or conscious in making himself alive. (6) 
Hence, though the new birth is indispensable to salvation, it is not 
a duty. We ought to repent and believe, for these are our own 
acts; but we ought to look to God absolutely, for the new birth, for 
this is and can be His act only and altogether (Rom. IV: 17). 
(7) Hence, too, arises the glorious certainty that "whosoever be- 
lieveth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved" (Acts XVI: 31; 
Rom. X: 13) ; for such belief is the sure evidence that one has been 
born of God (I John V: i). 

d. As to its mode, the new birth, as every beginning of life, is 
inscrutable (John 111:8). All that we know is: (i) It is not due 
to the moral influence of the truths of the gospel; these truths 
could not have any influence on one who was "dead" to them, and 
we are explicitly told that "the natural man" cannot even know them 
(I Cor. 11:14). Teaching, therefore, cannot of itself issue in the 
new birth. (2) Yet the latter is not without relation to the truth. In 
the case of adults it presupposes it. Hence, we are said to be "be- 
gotten by the word of truth" (James I: 18). The truth of Christ 
is the atmosphere essential to the life in Christ. The atmosphere 
could never revive a dead man, but, on the other hand, such an 
one could never be revived in a vacuum. (3) The new birth is due 
directly to the creative power of the Holy Spirit of God, and to 
this alone (John 111:5). The Bible distinguishes carefully be- 
tween the influence of the truth and the work of the Holy Spirit 
(II Tim. II : 25) ; and while it recognizes the necessity of the former, 
it ascribes the efficiency to the latter (I Cor. Ill : 5, 6). (4) The 
creative power of God in effecting the new birth acts in accord with, 
and not in violation of, the natural and so divinely appointed laws 
of the soul. God does not cause any to choose His service against 
their inclination; He makes them "willing in the day of His 



REDEMPTION 



39 



power" (Ps. CX:3). (5) The new birth is the result of a sov- 
ereign act of God's Spirit. It is not wrought in any on account of 
their merits, or on account of any nascent faith or sorrow for sin in 
them ; but it is always wrought because of and in accordance with 
God's eternal purpose of grace (II Tim. I: 9). (6) The agency of 
the Holy Spirit in efifecting the new birth is irresistible and so in- 
variably efficacious. As God sends His Spirit to quicken all whom 
He has chosen for redemption and thus to apply to them the re- 
demption purchased for them by Christ, so He succeeds in every case 
(John VI: 37). It is absurd to suppose that a sinner could defeat 
the eternal purpose of the Almighty, that the human will could 
resist the creative power of God. 
e. The results of the nezv birth are: — 

(1) Conversion, (a) This is the sinner's act as his new life in 
Christ and by the Spirit begins to assert itself, (b) It consists in a 
reversal of purpose. As God by the new birth has changed the 
inclination of the sinner's self-determination, so now he begins to 
determine himself in accordance with the change (Acts IX: 6). 
(c) It is evidenced by repentance and faith, 

(2) A new man. (a) This does not mean a different kind of 
man. Paul was the same sort of man after God made him "a new 
creature in Christ Jesus" as before. He retained all the energy 
naturally characteristic of him (Gal. 1 : 15, 16). (b) It does mean 
the same man brought under the direction of and energized with 
the power and life of Christ (Gal. II: 20). 

No less complete and glorious than this is the redemption which is 
in Jesus. It is adequate to meet every demand of the divine jus- 
tice on all men ; it secures its certain appropriation by every one of 
the innumerable multitude for whom it was eternally provided; it 
does this by giving to each one of them the moral nature and the 
glorious liberty of the children of God. 



CHAPTER VII 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.* 

Redemption is in order to the Christian Hfe and its resulting 
good works, which God "afore prepared that we should walk in 
them" (Eph. II: lo). 

A. The Necessity of the Christian Life arises: — 

a. Out of the redeemed sinner's new relation to God. (i) Be- 
fore his acceptance of redemption he was at enmity against God 
because under sentence of His law (Eph. II: 15, 16). (2) Since 
then he is reconciled to God (Eph. II : 14, 15), Christ having 
satisfied every demand of the law for him and in his stead, and he 
having laid hold of this "great salvation" through simple trust in 
the Redeemer. (3) It cannot be, therefore, that the Christian will 
do good works in order either to earn salvation or to maintain his 
hold on it. "He that believeth hath eternal life" (John VI: 47). It 
could not be more surely his than it is his the instant that he 
believes on Christ as his Saviour. The ransom which the Son of 
God has paid for him must deliver him absolutely as soon as he 
accepts it as for him : otherwise, God would deny His own right- 
eousness. (4) It must be, however, that, because of this union 
with Christ by faith, the sinner will try to "bring forth fruit unto 
God." Having identified himself with Christ, he must have made 
the latter's purpose for him his own. Christ's death for his sins 
must have been in effect his death to his sins (Rom. VI: i-ii). It 
could no more be otherwise than the drowning man could lay hold 
of his rescuer and then cease trying to breathe. 

b. Out of the change in the redeemed sinner's spiritual condition. 
(i) Before, he was dead to God "through . . . trespasses and sins" 
(Eph. II: i). (2) Now he is alive unto God, having been quick- 

*See "Confession of Faith," Chapters XIII, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, 
XXI, XXV, XXVI, XXXIV; also "Popular Lectures on Theological Themes," 
Lectures XIII, XIV, XV. 

40 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 



41 



ened by Him (Eph. II: i). He believes on Christ as his Redeemer 
because by the Holy Spirit he has been united to him as his life 
(Gal. II: 20). (3) It cannot be, therefore, that he will do good 
works in order that he may enter on eternal life ; it could not be 
his more surely than it is his already ; it is no more he who lives, 
but Christ who lives in him (Gal. II: 20). (4) It must be, how- 
ever, just because God is working in him, that he will strive to 
develop and so work out his own salvation (Phil. II: 12). It 
could no more be otherwise than a man could give over breathing ; 
he does not breathe in order that he may get life ; he breathes 
because he is alive and for this reason cannot help breathing. 

c. Tlic sinner's ozvn appreciation of his changed relation to God 
and of his new spiritual condition will both demand and prompt the 
Christian life. Gratitude for these mercies of God must constrain 
him to present himself "a living sacrifice" unto God (Rom. XII: 
I, 2). 

B. The Sphere of the Christian Life is Threefold:— 

a. The kingdom of Christ. This, as we have seen, is universal. 
Christ is now the God of providence, and He is "head over all 
things to the church" (Eph. 1:22). (i) He, therefore, who has 
taken Christ as his Lord and in whose life Christ has become 
the dominant principle will recognize his responsibility to Him in 
society, in business, in the family, in the state, in the church. In 
every department of life he will see that he can do Christ's will and 
that he ought to do it (I Cor. X:3i). (2) In every event also he 
will recognize the appointment of his King. He will appreciate that 
nothing comes to pass that Christ has not effected or permitted for 
His glory in the good of His redeemed ones. Hence, he will feel 
that in everything he can give thanks and ought to give thanks (I 
Thess. V: 18). Even to this degree will the world become to him 
the kingdom of his Redeemer and Lord. 

b. The household of God. In Christ we are no more servants, 
but sons (Gal. IV: 7). Our King reigns for our Father and as our 
Father. The whole world should be as our home, for it is our 
"Father's house" (John XIV: 2). All our duties are the require- 
ments of His wisdom; all our joys are the expressions of His 
love; all our afflictions reveal His sympathy; it is our privilege and 
our duty so to realize His fatherhood that our obedience as servants 



42 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



will become "the liberty of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 
VIII: 21). 

c. Communion zvith Christ. It is with Him that our new life is 
hid in God (Col. 111:3), As the world becomes to us God's king- 
dom and His kingdom our home ; so our life in this home consists in 
following Christ as our Lord, in communing with Him as our own 
individual Friend, in living in Him as our Life (Gal. II: 20). This 
is the real meaning of the Christian life. He in whom God chose 
us before the foundation of the world, who died on the cross for our 
sins, who "ever liveth to intercede for us" — He dwells in each one 
of us by His Spirit, and we live by the power and for the glory 
of His life (I Cor. HI-: 16). Thus the Christian life is a life for 
Christ and with Christ because in Christ Himself (John XV: 5). 

C. The Work of tlie Christian Life. 

a. In the sphere of the kingdom it is to develop all the right 
interests of the ivorld in accordance with their inherent and, 
therefore, divine purpose, (i) The original command to "subdue 
the earth" still holds (Gen. 1:28). It is strengthened by the fact 
that the world has become the kingdom of our Redeemer. Fidelity 
to all its interests is now required by loyalty to Him. (2) Particu- 
larly is this so in the relationships of societ^^ (a) The affections of 
the family should be inspired by and subordinated to the love of 
Christ (Eph. V : 25 ; VI :i, 4). (b) The rights which the state 
secures should be defined in accordance with the law of Christ as 
its true Head, and the civil rulers who guard these rights should 
be obeyed and respected as His ministers (Rom. XIII: 1-4). 

b. In the sphere of the household of God it is to make known the 
gospel of salvation. United to Christ, the Christian will identify 
himself with the visible church or the company of Christ's confessed 
followers (]\Iark VIII: 34). Thus he will acknowledge his mem- 
bership in the family of God and will best do his part in the work 
for the establishment of Christ's kingdom; and as this work is 
the preaching and teaching and living of the gospel of the grace 
of God (Mark XVI: 15), so he will seek to have all his activity in 
the world or kingdom of God contribute to this the supreme func- 
tion of the church (]\Iark XVI: 15). 

c. /;/ the sphere of communion zcith Christ it is to reproduce Hh 
character in order that He may become more fully known. Living 
in Christ as the branch lives in the vine (John XV: 1-5), the Chris- 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 



43 



tian will strive to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit of Christ (Gal. 
V:22), Thus his true life will express itself, and as the essence 
of this life is "to know the love of Christ" (John XVII 13), so his 
aim will be in all his endeavor to develop in himself and in others 
the virtues which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and in all of his 
consequent effort to publish the gospel of salvation, and in all his 
resulting activity in subduing the world to Christ, his final aim 
will be that the love of Christ may be known "which passeth 
knowledge" (Eph. Ill: ig). 

D. The Law of the Christian Life. 

a. The Christian life is under lazv. (i) Just because the Christian 
has been delivered by God from obedience to His law as the con- 
dition of eternal life, will he wish to make it the rule of his life 
(Rom. VII: 22). (2) Since Christ came to vindicate the law of 
God in His expression of His grace, it could not be otherwise (Rom. 
111:31). (3) It must be so, too, because the Christian life is "hid 
with Christ in God," and His nature is, as we have seen, both the 
standard and the ground of right, which is the basis of law. 

b. The whole of the Christian life is absolutely under the law of 
God. (i) This law is all comprehensive (I Cor. X:3i). (2) The 
only service tha\ will or should satisfy either God or the Christian is 
entire obedience (James II: 10), perfection of character (Matt. V: 
48), total consecration (Matt. XVI : 24, 25). The cost of our re- 
demption (I Pet. 1:19) as well as the perfection of God is the 
reason for this. 

c. The Bible, and particularly the personal revelation of God in 
Christ given in it, constitutes the supernaturally revealed and so 
infallible rule of Christian life (II Tim. HI : 16, 17). 

d. The law of God and rule of the Christian life is summarily 
comprehended in the Ten Commandments (Matt. XIX: 17). (i) 
This is so because the Ten Commandments are binding on all men, 
being founded either on the unchangeable nature of God, as the 
Ninth Commandment, or on the divinely constituted nature and 
permanent relations of men in their present state of existence, as 
the Eighth Commandment. (2) It is so, too, because the Ten 
Commandments are reaffirmed (Mark X:i9), explained, and spirit- 
ualized by Christ (Matt. V). (3) The sum of the Ten Com- 
mandments is that we should love God supremely and our neigh- 
bor as ourselves (Matt. XXII: 37-40). (4) This absolutely holy 



44 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



love, which is the complete fulfillment of the law (Rom. XIII: lo), 
finds its standard and illustration in Christ's love for His redeemed 
ones (John XV: 12). (5) This is Christ's "new commandment," 
the law distinctive of the Christian life (John XIII: 34). The 
Christian is one who tries to love both himself and others as 
Christ has loved him. 

e. The will of God for each particular Christian and so his par- 
ticular duty in each particular case, is indicated in the current lead- 
ings of providence interpreted by the indwelling Spirit of God, who 
enlightens our minds to understand their claims and who quickens 
our consciences to appreciate them. The Holy Spirit, however, al- 
ways guides by applying the general principles of the Bible to the 
changing conditions of our providentially directed lives. He never 
enjoins what is contradictory of, or beyond, the book which He 
himself inspired to be our complete rule. Hence, the final appeal 
in every question of duty as of faith must be to the word of God 
(Isa. VIII: 20). 

f. In the case of what is not commanded or forbidden in the Bible 
each Christian is required to decide his duty for himself under the 
guidance of the Holy Spirit, with due regard to the recommenda- 
tions of the church and other constituted authorities, and especially 
in accordance zvith the following principles: — 

(1) One ought to do what, in view of all the circumstances, he 
judges will be most for the glory of Christ (I Cor. X:3i). 

(2) Christ cannot be glorified when what one does, though in 
itself innocent, wounds the conscience of a less developed Christian 
(I Cor. VIII: 12), or tempts him to violate his conscience (I Cor, 
VIII: II). 

(3) Still more ought one not to let his less developed brother 
deny his right to decide for himself in these matters what he 
himself may or may not do (Rom. XIV: 3). This liberty he is 
bound to accord to others and to demand from others. Even the 
church may not authoritatively command or forbid what the Bible 
has not commanded or forbidden. 

E. As to the Nature of the Christian Life, It is:— 
a. A growth. It consists in the repetition of that act of faith in 
which it first evidenced itself. The body lives as well as begins to 
live by breathing, and the Christian lives in Christ as well as begins 
to live in Him by believing on Him. We grow in Him as we ad- 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 



45 



venture ourselves on His promises, as we draw on His grace, as we 
submit to His rule, as we cooperate with Him as He dwells in us 
and animates us and worketh in us both to will and to work by His 
Spirit (Phil. H: 13). In a word, we can be sanctified only through 
faith (Acts XXVI: 18). 

b. It is at best an immature and imperfect growth, (i) The new 
birth is the implanting of a new and divine life ; it is not the de- 
struction of the old and corrupt nature. During his third foreign 
missionary tour even Paul wrote that when he would do good 
evil was present with him (Rom. VII: 14-25). (2) This old nature 
is never entirely eradicated in this life (Rom, 111:9, lo)- Hence, 
the Christian is never what he would be or ought to be; he never 
cooperates as he should with the Spirit of God, and the latter in 
His just and loving sovereignity does not constrain such coopera- 
tion. 

c. It is, hoivcver, a growth which may and should, even in its 
immaturity and imperfection, issue in assurance of salvation (I John 
III: 14, 18, 19, 21, 24). (i) Such- assurance results from the 
testimony of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are 
the children of God (Rom. VIII: 15, 16). (2) Though not indis- 
pensable to saving faith, it is its appropriate fruit and so ought to 
be striven after (II Pet. 1 : 10). 

d. It is, moreover, a growth which is sure to come to maturity and 
perfection. When it is correctly judged not to do so, it must have 
been a spurious growth and the Christian one in name only, (i) 
Drawing its life from God Himself, it may languish, but it cannot 
die. (2) Created by Him Himself, He may seem to neglect it, but 
He must be all the time perfecting it (Phil. 1:6). (3) Christ has so 
declared (John X:28). (4) Such, as we have just seen, is the 
witness of His Spirit. (5) Such is the eternal covenant of God 
with His Son (John VI : 39, 40). All therefore, who are in Christ 
must become like Him (Rom. VIII: 29). Were it, in even one case, 
to be otherwise, He who is "the Truth" would deny Himself; "He 
cannot deny Himself" (II Tim. II: 13). Such is the absolutely cer- 
tain as well as supremely glorious issue of the Christian life. 



CHAPTER VIII 



THE MEANS OF GRACE * 

Ordinarily in His works of providence God acts through means. 
It is not strange, therefore, that there should be "means of grace" 
and that our growth in the Christian life should depend on our 
diligent use of these. It is thus that Christ develops His life in us. 
These means of grace are : — 

A. The Word; i. e., the Bible. 

a. In itself the Bible is fitted to be so. Its truths are such and are 
so presented as to be adapted (i) to make "wise unto salvation" 
(II Tim. Ill: 15), and (2) to develop holiness (Acts XX: 32). The 
Bible contains precisely the spiritual nourishment needed by the 
Christian life in all its stages. 

b. The Bible is, hoivever, made a means of grace by the attending 
influence of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 11:4). He opens the heart 
to receive and He enlightens the mind to understand "the things of 
God" (I Cor. II: 10). Otherwise, because of our natural deadness 
to such things, they would be to us only "a stumbling block" or 
"foolishness" (I Cor. 1:23). 

c. This influence of the Holy Spirit is not a supernatural effi- 
ciency inherent in the Bible itself, but it is an influence exerted by 
Him when and how He pleases on and through the truths of the 
Bible. Two men may read the Bible, and it save the one and harden 
and condemn the other (II Cor. II: 16). This is because the former 
is taught by the Spirit (John XVI: 13), and the other only by his 
own spiritually dead heart. 

d. This influence of the Spirit may, however, be expected, and 
may be claimed by Christians, in connection with the appropriate use 
of the Bible (Acts XVII: 11, 12). (i) The Bible should be taught 
and studied (a) diligently (Deut. VI : 6, 7), (b) after careful spir- 

* See "Confession of Faith," Chapters XXV, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, 
XXXIV; also "Popular Lectures on Theological Themes," Lectures V, XVI, 
XVIL 

46 



THE MEANS OF GRACE 



47 



itual as well as mental preparation (I Pet. II : i, 2), (c) with 
prayer (Ps. CXIX:i8). (2) It should be received (a) with faith 
(Rom. I: 16), and (b) with love (John VII: 17). (3) It should 
be laid up in our hearts (Ps. CXIX:ii). (4) It should be prac- 
ticed in our lives (James 1 :2s). 

e. The public preaching of the word of God, He is pleased spe- 
cially to honor as a means of grace (I Cor. 1 : 21). 

B. The Sacraments. 

a. "A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, 
by sensible signs, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are 
represented, sealed, and applied to believers" ("Shorter Catechism," 
Ques. 92; Matt. XXVIII : 19; XXVI : 26-28). 

b. The design of the sacraments is fourfold: (i) To represent to 
the eye the fundamental truths of the gospel, (2) To be badges 
of Christian discipleship. (3) To be the seals of Christ's covenant 
with men. (4) To be the means whereby Christ imparts grace to 
those who receive them rightly, 

c. The necessity of the sacraments depends on (i) their adapta- 
tion to meet the ends just named, and (2) above all, on the com- 
mand of Christ (Matt. XXVIII: 19; I Cor. XI : 23, 24). Yet while 
they are thus appointed and so obligatory, they are not exclusive 
channels of grace. A believer ought to seek, and ordinarily will 
seek baptism, but it is never the lack of baptism which is fatal (Mark 
XVI: 16). 

d. The efficacy of the sacraments is not from any virtue in them 
or in him who administers them, but solely by the blessing of Christ 
and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them 
(I Cor. XII: 13), This is not because faith renders any deserving 
of grace, but because only faith can appropriate it. 

e. The sacraments are valid, or zvhat they purport to be, when 
they conform to the prescriptions given in the Bible concerning 
them, (i) The elements employed must be those which Christ or- 
dained. (2) The manner in which those elements are given or re- 
ceived must accord with His directions. (3) The ordinances must 
be administered with the intention of doing what He commanded. 

f. The sacraments are tzvo. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
(i) Baptism, 

(a) It symbolizes by the cleansing of the body by water the cleans- 
ing of the soul in the blood of Jesus. It, therefore, implies a con- 



48 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



fession of guilt and of depravity, and a profession of the discovery 
of the remedy for all sin in the blood of Jesus. 

(b) It ought, therefore, to be sought by all and to be applied to 
all who in the judgment of charity may be presumed to be children 
of God and so with a right to the privileges of His house (Acts 
11:38). 

(c) As only God can judge the heart, the responsibility of decid- 
ing whether one has turned to God in Christ and so is a child of 
God and a fit subject for recognition as such by baptism is wholly 
with the applicant himself. The duty of church sessions is limited 
to denying church membership and baptism to those who give posi- 
tive evidence of unfitness for them, either because they do not know 
what baptism means, or because they do not believe what it signifies, 
or because their lives openly contradict their profession. Church 
officers who assume more responsibility than this come under the 
condemnation of Christ (Matt. VII: i). 

(d) The infants also of all who have professed their faith in 
Christ ought to be baptized : for as baptism is the sign and seal of 
the covenant of grace, and as the covenant of grace is identical with 
the promise made to Abraham (Gal. Ill: 14), and as this promise 
included his children with him (Gen. XVII 17), so the children of 
believers now are heirs of the blessings of this covenant, and thus 
should receive the divinely appointed sign and seal of it. 

(e) The salvation of infants dying in infancy does not, however, 
depend upon their baptism. Baptism does not make those to whom 
it is administered heirs of grace : but, in the case of infants, it is 
administered to those who, we must believe, are already heirs of 
grace because the faith of their parents shows that they are entitled 
to be regarded as born such through God's gracious and eternal 
choice; and since we have good reason to hope, from the analogy 
between Adam and Christ (Rom. V: 18, 19), that all those who die 
in infancy are included in this choice, we may well believe that a 
multitude, who never were baptized, are removed from the evil of 
this world to the immediate presence of God. 

(f) The benefit of infant baptism appears in this, that in it parents 
formally claim for their children the salvation which God, who 
cannot fail to keep His word, has promised to give to the children 
of all believers who sincerely make that claim and continue to be- 
lieve in His promise and to train their children in accord with it. 



THE MEANS OF GRACE 



49 



(g) As to the mode of baptism, it is essential that there should 
be a washing with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. Thus purification from sin is symbolized, and the recipient 
is pledged to allegiance to God in that character and in those rela- 
tions in which He has revealed Himself to us in the plan of salva- 
tion. How much water is used and how it is applied are not essen- 
tial. Sprinkling, immersion, and affusion are all justified by Scrip- 
ture. Sprinkling, however, is most symbolical of spiritual cleansing 
(Ezek. XXXVI: 25, 26). Hence, it is to be preferred. 

(2) The Lord's Supper. 

(a) It is a memorial of Christ (I Cor. XI 124), and especially of 
His death for our sins (Matt. XXVI : 27, 28). Thus it speaks to 
us of guilt and of the atonement. 

(b) It is a sacrificial meal, as was the passover feast, the place of 
which it takes; it is, therefore, a communion of Christians with each 
other as common participants in Christ's sacrificial death accom- 
plished once for all on Calvary (J^.Iatt. XXVI: 27). 

(c) In it, to all who come to it in faith, Christ and the benefits of 
His death for us are signified, sealed, and imparted. We not only 
remember Him; we claim Him afresh as our sacrificial substitute, 
and receive Him as such to our spiritual nourishment and growth in 
grace. 

(d) Christ, therefore, is really present at His table and is really 
partaken of in this sacrament (I Cor. XI : 24, 25). This does not 
mean that the bread and wine become Christ's flesh and blood, or 
that His flesh and blood enter into them; but that all the power to 
save of His body broken and of His blood shed for our sins, and 
the energy of His own glorified divine human life are communicated 
to us by the Holy Spirit as we give ourselves anew to Christ at His 
table, and believing in all that they signify eat and drink the sym- 
bols of His body broken and His blood shed for us. As we cannot 
accept the physical presence of our Lord in the bread and wine and 
not contradict the senses which He has given us, so we must be- 
lieve in His dynamical presence to those who have the faith to 
receive Him, or deny His own words (Matt. XXVI : 26, 27). 

(e) The Lord's Supper, then, should be partaken of only by Chris- 
tians. Others, because spiritually dead, cannot "discern the Lord's 
body," or perceive the spiritual and so real meaning of this sacra- 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



ment. Hence, they cannot participate in it without guilt (I Cor. 
XI: 29). 

(f) Yet as the Lord's Supper is for Christians only, so it is for all 
Christians, however weak or discouraged or sinful. The most sin- 
ful, if only they would repent and believe, are the very ones whom 
our Saviour would feed at His table (Mark H: 17). 

C. Prayer, 

a. In the case of the Christian, prayer is communion with both our 
Father (Matt. VI : 9) and our Friend (John XV: 14, 15, 16). 

b. Prayer includes petition (I John V:4), confession (I John 
1:9), and thanksgiving (Phil. IV: 6); the model of our prayer is 
the Lord's Prayer (Matt. VI: 9-13). 

c. Prayer is a special means of grace, (i) Because of its effect 
in us. Nothing can so tend to make one holy as communion with 
God Himself (Isa. XL: 31). (2) Because of its power with God 
(Matt. VII: 11; James V:i5). If prayer did not have this power 
with God, it would lose its power in us. No benefit could come 
from communion with a God who encouraged petition though know- 
ing it to be only an empty form. 

d. God can respond to our prayers and so can permit Himself to 
he influenced by them because (i) the laws of the world were con- 
stituted by Him and are absolutely under His control, and (2) be- 
cause prayer, as well as the answer to prayer, enters into His eternal 
plan. The whole world has been formed from the beginning for the 
very purpose of providing for the mutual intercourse of the pray- 
ing children and of the prayer-answering Father. 

e. Because Cod is our Father and is omnipotent, we ought to ask 
Him for everything that we wish, which He has not shown to he 
contrary to His will (Phil. IV: 6). 

f. Because Cod is our Father and is omnipotent. He will anszver 
every acceptable prayer, — if not as we wish, yet as we would wish did 
we know all that He knows (John XIV: 14). 

g. The conditions of acceptable prayer are: (i) It must be sin- 
cere. (2) It must be offered in submission to the will of God (I 
John V: 14; Luke XXII : 42). (3) It must be accompanied and fol- 
lowed by the intelligent and diligent use of all the means adapted to 
secure the answer (James V: 13-15). (4) It must be offered in the 
name of Christ (John XVI : 23). 

h. We should be encouraged to pray just because prayer is not 



THE MEANS OF GRACE 



necessary for God's information (Matt. VI: 8). It must, therefore, 
be to bring us into communion with Himself that He has so largely 
conditioned His giving on our asking (Ezek. XXXVI: 37). He de- 
lights to have us pray even more than we need to pray. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE LAST THINGS * 

One cannot study God's plan as developed in His works of crea- 
tion and providence, in the latter more definitely in the permission 
of sin and especially in the accomplishment of redemption, and in it 
particularly in the Christian life with its means of grace, and not 
ask, What is to be the outcome of it all? 

A. Human Probation is to end witli Deatli (II Cor. VI : i, 

2). 

a. Immediately upon death the good man — and no man, as we 
have seen, can be good in God's sight who is not clothed in the robe 
of Christ's righteousness — goes to a place of holiness and happiness, 
and the had man to a place of suffering (Luke XVI: 22, 23). 

b. These places and the characters which they imply are per- 
manent and irreversible (Luke XVI: 26, 31). 

B. The Chureli as Clirist's Army is to push Her Conquests 
until Jesus is owned the World Over; even by the Jews, as 
King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Mark XIII : 10; Rom. XI : 26; 
Isa. XLV:22, 23). 

C. Christ Himself will return from Heaven (I Thess. 
IV: 16). 

a. He will come in the body (Acts I: 11). 

b. The time of His return is unknozvn (Mark XIII : 26, 32). 

c. He will come unexpectedly (I Thess. V:2). 

D. At Christ's Return the Bodies of All Who are Alive 
shall "be so "changed" as to he Incorruptible (I Cor. XV: 51, 
52), and All the Dead shall be raised Incorruptible. 

a. This zvill be effected directly by the almighty pozvcr of God 
(Phil. Ill: 21). 

b. The resurrection of the impenitent zvill be judicial, that they 

*See "Confession of Faith," Chapters XXXII and XXXTII; also "Popular 
Lectures on Theological Themes," Lectures XVIII and XIX. 

52 



THE LAST THINGS 



S3 



may justly, and so in the body, receive the punishment of the deeds 
done in the body (John Y\2g; II Cor. V: lo). 

c. The resurrection of the redeemed will he gracious; a conse- 
quence of Christ's death and resurrection for them, and for the 
consummation of their salvation (I Thess. IV: 14). 

d. As to the resurrection bodies of the redeemed, we are taught: 
(i) They are identical with the bodies laid away in the graves 
(John V:28, 29). (2) They are, however, changed so as to be like 
Christ's glorified body (Phil. Ill: 21). (3) Hence, they will be (a) 
still true bodies (Luke XXIV: 39) ; (b) yet spiritual bodies (I Cor. 
XV : 44) ; i. e., absolutely under the control and government of the 
Holy Spirit so as to be perfectly adapted to the instincts and facul- 
ties of our glorified souls, and to the physical condition of the new 
heavens and the new earth "wherein dwelleth righteousness." 

E. As to the Condition of Souls "between Death and the 
Resurrection, We are taught: — 

a. In the case of the impenitent^ it is a state of bodiless, penal 
suffering (Luke XVI : 23). 

b. In the case of the redeemed, it is a state of bodiless, conscious 
blessedness. (i) They are "at home with the Lord" (II Cor, 
V:i, 8). (2) They are freed from all sin (Rev. XIV: 13). (3) 
Their bodies, being still united to Christ, are kept by Him for the 
resurrection (I Thess. IV: 14). (4) Yet though with Christ and 
delivered from all sin and sorrow, they are not complete in Him, 
but await the resurrection and the glory which shall ensue (Rom. 
VIII: 23). 

F. The Resurrection will he followed hj, and will be in 
order to, the Final and Universal Judgment (]\Iatt. 
XXV: 31). 

a. Christ himself will be the Judge (II Cor. V: 10). 

b. Those to be judged will be Satan and the angels zvho fell with 
him (Jude 6), and all men (II Cor. V: 10). 

c. The lazv by zvhich all shall be tried zvill be the revelation which 
God has made to each one. (i) Those who have heard the gospel 
shall be judged by the gospel, and their great sin w^ill be that they 
have "not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" 
(John III: 18). (2) Those who have never heard the gospel shall 
be judged, by the Mosaic law if Jews, by the law of nature if 
heathen ; and the condemnation of the former will be that they have 



54 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 



disobeyed the law as God revealed it by Moses, and of the latter, 
that they have broken the law as made known by God in every 
man's conscience (Rom. II: 12-16). 

d. The judgment shall extend to words and thoughts as well as 
deeds (Matt. XII : 36, 37; Heb. IV:ii-i3). 

e. The condemnation of the impenitent is on the ground of their 
own sin; and the purpose of their judgment is to justify to the 
universe their pimishment, already entered into, and all to the praise 
of God's glorious justice (Rom. II: 5, 6). 

f. The acquittal and glorification of the redeemed will he on the 
ground of the righteousness of Christ, who by divine appointment 
took their place under the law and redeemed them from its curse 
and rendered its obedience, and the purpose of their judgment is to 
justify to the universe their blessedness, already entered into, and 
all to the praise of the riches of God's grace (Rom. IX: 23). 

G. As to the Cojidition of Men after the Judgment, We 
are taught: — 

a. The impenitent are consigned to "everlasting lire, prepared for 
the Devil and his angels." (i) This cannot be literal fire; for the 
Devil and his angels, having no bodies, could not be pained by it. 
(2) It must, however, signify punishment as real and terrible as 
fire. (3) The chief elements of this punishment are (a) Exclusion 
from the presence and favor of God (II Thess. 1:9). (b) Remorse 
(Alark IX: 44, 46, 48). (c) Despair, (d) Positive judicial inflec- 
tions, such as the impenitent's environment in hell, over and above 
the natural consequences of sin. (e) Perpetuity (]\Iatt. XXV: 46). 
(4) As to this inconceivably awful punishment, it should be further 
observed: (a) To the impenitent heaven could not be heaven, (b) 
In every case their punishment is deserved by their own sin. (c) 
This is true even of the perpetuity of their punishment. Sin is an 
offense against an infinite Being; such an offense merits an infinite 
punishment; to be such, punishment must, in the case of a finite 
creature, be everlasting, (d) 111 desert is determined by a Judge 
who has our nature, who was tempted in all points as we are, and 
who, consequents^ cannot fail to mitigate the degree of punishment 
according to all the extenuating circumstances (Luke XII : 47, 48). 
(e) Terrible though hell must be, it is only "a corner of the uni- 
verse." The redeemed are called an ''innumerable multitude" (Rev. 
VII: 9); no such description is ever given of the lost, (f) Even 



THE LAST THINGS 



55 



hell cannot be so awful as it would be, were not an absolutely just 
and infinitely loving God on the throne. To endure even His just 
wrath must be better than to be crushed by a heartless force or 
tortured by a cruel tyrant; nor may we forget that even when jus- 
tice compels Him to be most severe, He never ceases to love, (g) 
The consideration of this terrible subject ought to lead us to greater 
activity in bringing the impenitent to Him who can and will save 
all who come unto Him by faith. 

b. The redeemed enter at once into the "inheritance prepared for 
them from the foundation of the world" (Matt. XXV: 34). (i) 
United to their bodies, their redemption is complete. (2) Delivered 
from all sin, sorrow, and pain (Rev. VH : 16, 17; XXI: 27), and 
rewarded for Christ's sake according to their works (I Cor. V: 10), 
each one is admitted to all the happiness of which he has become 
capable (Ps. XVI: 11). (3) They know even as they are known 
(I Cor. XIII: 12). (4) They see Christ as He is (I John 111:2). 
(5) Together with those who are dear to them in Christ, they will 
be with Him forever (I Thess. IV: 17). (6) They are changed 
into His glorious likeness (I John 111:2). (7) Through all the 
ages to come they will be the recipients of the riches of God's grace 
in His kindness to them through Christ Jesus (Eph. 11:7). 

H. After tlie Resurrection and Judgment "cometb. tlie 
end," the passing away of the present order of things, the 
introduction of "new heavens and a new earth, wherein 
dwelleth righteousness" (H Pet. Ill : 12, 13) : and then Christ 
the God-man, "having put all things under His feet," hav- 
ing accomplished every purpose of His mediatorial king- 
ship, while retaining forever His headship over His 
redeemed people (Luke 1 : 33), will give up to the Father that 
dominion over the universe on which He entered at His as- 
cension; and thus the Godhead absolute will be immedi- 
ately all in all to the creature (I Cor. XV: 24-28). Such is 
the infinitely glorious and blessed consummation of God's eternal 
plan. ^ 



OCT 6 m 



